What I did for beer today

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American strong ale dialing in at 12% ABV coming out of the Puerto Rican rum Barrel! I used Centennial, El dorado, and Amarillo hops.
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Just kegged off the latest batch of house American Strong with my new super-expensive kegging system...not really. Just a length of tubing that fits inside the spigot on the fermonster, with a black disconnect on the keg end to the "out" post. Pull the PRV up and twist to keep it open, open the spigot on the fermonster, and let 'er rip. I put a starsan-soaked paper towel over the hole in the lid to keep nasties out. Old system was just a length of tubing from the spigot into the open keg, also covered with starsan paper towel; advantage there was being able to monitor the level in the keg. Not so much tonight, overflowed the keg (I blame HBT, too many things to read) to the happiness of the dogs who like beer on the floor. So after all was said and done, including mopping, I cleaned the fermonster then filled it up with 5 gallons of water; marked the level, then added another half gallon, marked, another half gallon, marked, and next kegging day shouldn't be so messy. Something I should have done a long time ago but spaced over it. Whoever said this hobby/obsession is a constant learning process knows their sh*t.
 
first batch of actually barley got cleaned in my dryer! first batch with it in it's permement postion on the back deck. two things it needs now is a chipper bag to catch to rootlets, and a better SS screen over the exit, instead of being duct taped on!

just turn it on with the barley inside, let it go for 15-20 minutes...clean barley

(so much better then 10 minutes of weight lifting! :mug:)
 
You gonna reuse that? Or, is it a one time thing? Been thinking about buying one but idk I could justify a barrel for one use.
This is my second time using it actually. I just fill it with boiling hot water from my Homebrew setup, let it sit for a couple hours, dump it, and then put the next liquor in there that I want to treat it with and let it sit!
 
Quaffed quite a bit of Munich Helles whilst preparing the feast (albeit just for me and the hubby with scraps for the pets). Everything turned out great, got my timing right this year so nothing was cold, and tried a new way of mashed potatoes that were heavenly. Wishing a good day to all here. Now to convince said hubby that since I cooked he gets to clean the kitchen....
 
Moved the regular stout into a keg and am brewing the Imperial Stout right now to go on top of the yeast cake. I keep topping it off with drippings from the mash tun, I mean, the leftovers are 1.078! How can I let them go to waste! So the brew day is extended by about 2 hours so I can evaporate off enough water to hit my target of about 10%+ ABV.

EDIT: In about 5.5G total finished volume.

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Moved the Citra/Sabro IPA and Cherry/Apple Cider on Kveik to the ferment fridge to crash this morning. Didn't taste the IPA, but the cider is most promising. I've done it once before on kveik but didn't get great results; this one, fermented at ambient room temperature (about 72° in our house) turned out great with some subtle orange/floral in there that's quite pleasant and very complementary to the apple/cherry. Also got to work from home the entire day; incredible boss just couldn't see us all coming into the office today so we all stayed home and texted a lot. Things got done too which is even better.
 
brewed a batch with damn near 1lb of hops, 4.5ozs 60, 8ozs 20....don't know how it'll turn out. but, for some reason, as chance would have it, this came on the radio as i was thinking of what to say i did for beer today!


(it started bubbling after like 10 minutes of pitching the yeast, so... 🤞)
 
brewed a batch with damn near 1lb of hops, 4.5ozs 60, 8ozs 20....don't know how it'll turn out. but, for some reason, as chance would have it, this came on the radio as i was thinking of what to say i did for beer today!


(it started bubbling after like 10 minutes of pitching the yeast, so... 🤞)

From one of my top ten favorite movies of all time!
 
From one of my top ten favorite movies of all time!


@seatazzz now i've seen bed knobs and broomsticks, marry poppins, watched francis the talking mule....and you're killing me because i want to know the name of the movie!! ;) :mug:

(and as an after party to my brew day yesterday, i pulled the stove top off and took it out back hosed it down sprayed it with oven cleaner. and then hosed again, with some light brushing...now my stove has recovered from that boil over....nothing like a 10 gallon boil over on a kitchen stove, but i've made clean up stream lined. And easy!)
 
@seatazzz now i've seen bed knobs and broomsticks, marry poppins, watched francis the talking mule....and you're killing me because i want to know the name of the movie!! ;) :mug:

(and as an after party to my brew day yesterday, i pulled the stove top off and took it out back hosed it down sprayed it with oven cleaner. and then hosed again, with some light brushing...now my stove has recovered from that boil over....nothing like a 10 gallon boil over on a kitchen stove, but i've made clean up stream lined. And easy!)
Guys and Dolls. A classic. Frank Sinatra & Marlon Brando as small-time gangsters.
 
Moved the regular stout into a keg and am brewing the Imperial Stout right now to go on top of the yeast cake. I keep topping it off with drippings from the mash tun, I mean, the leftovers are 1.078! How can I let them go to waste! So the brew day is extended by about 2 hours so I can evaporate off enough water to hit my target of about 10%+ ABV.

EDIT: In about 5.5G total finished volume.

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So I got impatient and decided to go for lower ABV and more beer. It started ripping away the moment fresh wort was introduced, so all I really did today was sniff an airlock.

And reinstall the OS and reconstruct my computer’s HD from a backup and as it didn’t go according to plan the first time, doing it again.

This is really cutting into my brewing time this weekend.
 
I brewed 6 gallons of dark adjunct lager. It was supposed to be the penultimate brew of my going on two-year exploration of the US adjunct brewing tradition, but I ended up writing a recipe during the recirculation step. So, at least two more Panther Piss brewing sessions left before I can close the book on the most obvious beats in the US adjunct songbook.
 
something i'd want to try now! lol :mug:

I think it'll be a winner. The first runnings were eye-opening and got me thinking about a US adjunct dopplebock...

Anyway, it's a simple enough beer. It's just the Panther Piss adjunct package (3lbs of 6-row, 2lbs corn, 1lb of rice) plus a 3:2 ratio of Vienna to Munich to hit 1.055, 4oz of Midnight wheat for color and a hint of roast. Boil 90, Clusters at 60, 20 and 10, big Hallertau addition at 0.

It was one of those beers that's great out of the MT and gets better out of the BK. It's going to be great.
 
I found a competition I wanted to enter so I bottled the requested number of bottles for each style I intended to submit, only to realize, as I was going through the registration process, the competition is for females only. 🤦‍♂️ I put 2+2 together after I gave the name of the contest a little more thought and the very low number of paid entries for it since it’s only a couple weeks away. “Queen of Beers” should have been my first clue. It was right there in the rules… I just glossed over it. It does say “female identified”, so there’s that.
Oh well, I guess I’ve got some bottled beer ready if I find myself going to a BYOB function sometime soon.
Ladies, there’s still time if you hurry if you want to enter.
 
I think it'll be a winner. The first runnings were eye-opening and got me thinking about a US adjunct dopplebock...

Anyway, it's a simple enough beer. It's just the Panther Piss adjunct package (3lbs of 6-row, 2lbs corn, 1lb of rice) plus a 3:2 ratio of Vienna to Munich to hit 1.055, 4oz of Midnight wheat for color and a hint of roast. Boil 90, Clusters at 60, 20 and 10, big Hallertau addition at 0.

It was one of those beers that's great out of the MT and gets better out of the BK. It's going to be great.
Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm no know all beer god from the realm of BeerVana..but I just can't wrap my head around how you could possibly brew a doppelbock from adjuncts...???I'm sure it's possible and I'm not doubting your 37 chambers brewing mastery Oh great and terrible clown face from....something scary...
 
I found a competition I wanted to enter so I bottled the requested number of bottles for each style I intended to submit, only to realize, as I was going through the registration process, the competition is for females only. 🤦‍♂️ I put 2+2 together after I gave the name of the contest a little more thought and the very low number of paid entries for it since it’s only a couple weeks away. “Queen of Beers” should have been my first clue. It was right there in the rules… I just glossed over it. It does say “female identified”, so there’s that.
Oh well, I guess I’ve got some bottled beer ready if I find myself going to a BYOB function sometime soon.
Ladies, there’s still time if you hurry if you want to enter.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 throw on some lipstick, put on a Halloween wig and label it Camonickaa.....?? 😂😂😂😂
 
Pretty well fully moved into the new house. Haven’t brewed since August but having a friend install a spigot in the corner on an existing water line and I’m set. That should happen on Friday but I’m hoping to do a stovetop batch that morning to get my homebrew flowing. But the room is mostly set up!
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Sidenote, I’m slowly switching to kegging and while putting some recently delivered parts away, I heard some crows outside. I tossed some unsalted peanuts out and managed to coax a few in. My wife LOVES crows so I’m excited about luring them in. Wonder if they’ll eat spent grain, hmm.
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Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm no know all beer god from the realm of BeerVana..but I just can't wrap my head around how you could possibly brew a doppelbock from adjuncts...???I'm sure it's possible and I'm not doubting your 37 chambers brewing mastery Oh great and terrible clown face from....something scary...

My Panther Piss series of beers was sparked by gaining access to some translations of mid-19th Century brewing logs from the Midwest (a time when a German language newspaper had the highest circulation of any in the area). Prior to this, I had always assumed that corn and rice were used as cost-saving adjuncts. These records, however, indicated that the German brewers in the Midwest were, instead, trying to come to terms with domestic 6-row malt and make a clear lager beer by using the German tradition of adjunct brewing to tame the high protein levels of 6-row malt. Fascinating stuff!

Anyway, the whole thing fascinated me and opened up the concept of devising an adjunct package that I could plug into more modern styles, just as the 19th Century German brewers in the Midwest had done. The result was really, really good beer.
 
Nice brew space!
I'll bet that with exterior walls that thick, you have serious insulation for the MN climate.
Yeah it’s an olllld house but very well insulated actually. Drafty with some big windows but just to the right of my kettle is a door leading to an unheated screened in porch and it’s crazy how well the brew room stays warm. I went to this from a completely unheated basement. I’ll miss being able to lager super easily on the winters, but I have a plan for that.
 
Got some needed supplies in from Midwest Supplies.

Been a cleaning and bottling day. sampled and dumped about 10 liter swing top bottles of beers that don't age well or leftover experiment. Kegged a Tony's Pre 1970's boddingtons and dry hopped with a significant amount of EKG. Bottled 12 liters of a blueberry cyser. First try at taking 5 pounds of Costco frozen blueberries, running them through the juicer, toss it all in the cyser at about 1010, ferment dry, filter all the crud though my mash and boil as a sterile mixing bucket. Had prolly half a gallon leftover in the mash and boil, so poured 6 gallons of bourbon barrel porter in on top of that, and then bottled about 25 liters worth of bourbon barrel porter with a hint o blueberry.

Replacement part came in for my 3 gallon fast ferment conical. This is a great yeast harvesting device if you're into such rabbit holes like I am. will make a manchester inspired AK 3 gallon batch pitched on top of the harvested Tony"s Pre 1970's boddy above to make use of the Manchester yeast. And in a few days will have a big ol honking pitch of Manchester yeast ready to for something else

Cleaning my 30L and 20L speidel carboys for the 6 gallon Malbec Wine Kit that I ordered for the first time. Will start that tonight in the 30L, and then secondary in the 20L.

I also have 6 gallons of a czech hack (munich, vienna, carabohemia, melanoidum and tettnanger with34/70) lagering away

BTW, FYI to those you that like English heritage malts, Northern Brewer and Midwest supplies both recently started carrying Chevalier malt. I've got some on the way and it's going straight into a SMASH quickly followed by the Machine House Clone.

At the end of this, I will have a full pipeline, a couple of kegs and at least two carboy's free to keep the pipeline full.
 
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